Michael Angus Phillips, (born 8 August 1941),
[ is a British writer and broadcast journalist of Guyanese descent. He is best known for his crime fiction, including four novels featuring black journalist Sam Dean.
]
Early years
Mike Phillips was born in Georgetown, a port city in the equatorial colony British Guiana
British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana.
The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...
(now Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
). In 1956 with his family he migrated to Islington
Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...
in London, England, when he was aged about 14.[ He was educated at the ]University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
(English), the University of Essex
The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
(Politics), and received a Postgraduate Certificate in Education
The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE/PGCertEd) is a one- or two-year higher education course in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which provides training in order to allow graduates to become teachers within maintained schools. In ...
from Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...
, London.
Career
Phillips worked for the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
as a journalist and broadcaster between 1972 and 1983, then became a lecturer in media studies
Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...
at the University of Westminster
, mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength
, type = Public
, established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster
, endowment = £5.1 million ...
.["Distinguished friends: Dr Mike Phillips OBE FRSL FRSA"]
Migration Museum Project. In 1992 he became a full-time writer. He has said, "One of the experiences that made me a writer was the realisation that I was written out of a small piece of literary history in the film ''Prick Up Your Ears
''Prick Up Your Ears'' is a 1987 British film, directed by Stephen Frears, about the playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the 1978 biography by John Lahr. The film stars Gary ...
'', the biography of controversial playwright Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his death in 1967, was short but highly influential. During this brie ...
, author of ''Entertaining Mr Sloane''. Orton and his friend Kenneth Halliwell
Kenneth Leith Halliwell (23 June 1926 – 9 August 1967) was a British actor, writer and collagist. He was the mentor, boyfriend and murderer of playwright Joe Orton.
Childhood
Halliwell was born in Bebington. He was very close to his moth ...
were frequent visitors to Essex Road Library where I worked as a library assistant. I regularly spoke to them and didn't know that they were defacing the books, an act that eventually put them in jail. When the scene was depicted on film I felt I should have been included, and realised that you can't rely on others to write your story, sometimes you have to do it yourself."
Phillips is best known for his crime fiction, including four novels featuring black journalist Sam Dean: ''Blood Rights'' (1989; serialised on BBC TV starring Brian Bovell), ''The Late Candidate'' (1990), ''Point of Darkness'' (1994), ''An Image to Die For'' (1995). He is also the author of ''London Crossings: A Biography of Black Britain'' (2001), a series of interlinked autobiographical essays and stories. He has said that he thinks of himself as both an English writer and a black British writer. With his brother, the political journalist Trevor Phillips
Sir Mark Trevor Phillips (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented '' Trevor Phillips on Sunday'', a Sunday ...
, he wrote ''Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain'' (1998) to accompany a BBC television series marking the 50th anniversary of the arrival in Britain of the HMT ''Empire Windrush'', the ship that brought the first significant wave of post-war migrants from the Caribbean.[.]
He writes for ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' newspaper, and was formerly cross-cultural curator at the Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
and a trustee of the National Heritage Memorial Fund
The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was set up in 1980 to save the most outstanding parts of the British national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. It replaced the National Land Fund which had fulfilled the ...
and the Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
.
Phillips was a member of the independent advisory group that delivered the ''Windrush Lessons Learned Review'', a report published in March 2020 based on an enquiry into the government's handling of the " Windrush scandal".
In 2021, his novel ''The Dancing Face'', originally published in 1997, was reissued by Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Bernardine Evaristo
Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo, (born 28 May 1959) is a British author and academic. Her novel ''Girl, Woman, Other'', jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's ''The Testaments'', making her the first woman with Black ...]
.
Awards and honours
* 1991 – Silver Dagger award by the Crime Writers' Association
The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...
for ''The Late Candidate''
* 1996 – Arts Foundation Award for Thriller Writing
* 2000 – elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...
* 2007 – OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the New Year's Honours List
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...
for services to Broadcasting
* 2007 – Fellow of Goldsmiths' College
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...
Books
Fiction
*''Smell of the Coast and Other Stories'' (1987). London: Akira Press.
*''Boyz 'n the Hood'' (1991). London: Pan.
*''The Dancing Face'' (1997). London and New York: HarperCollins. Reissued 2021, Penguin Books.
*''A Shadow of Myself'' (2000). New York: HarperCollins.
*''Kind of Union'' (2005). London: Continuum.
*(With Stejarel Olaru) ''Rîmaru: Butcher of Bucharest'' (2012). Profusion Publishers.
Sam Dean series
*''Blood Rights'' (1989). London: Michael Joseph; New York: St. Martin's Press. (Adapted for BBC TV in 1989; starring Brian Bovell)
*''The Late Candidate'' (1990). London: Michael Joseph; New York: St. Martin's Press.
*''Point of Darkness: A Sam Dean Mystery'' (1994). London: Michael Joseph, 1994; New York: St. Martin's Press.
*''An Image to Die For'' (1997). New York: St. Martin's Press.
Non-fiction
*''Community Work and Racism'' (1982). London: Routledge.
*''Notting Hill in the Sixties'' (1991); text, with photography by Charlie Phillips. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
*''Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain'' (with Trevor Phillips). London: HarperCollins, 1998. .
*''London Crossings: A Biography of Black Britain''. London: Continuum, 2001.
References
External links
*
"About Dr Mike Phillips"
Online gallery – Black Europeans, British Library
* Onyekachi Wambu
Onyekachi Wambu (born 1960) is a Nigerian-British journalist and writer. He has directed television documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and PBS.
Life
Onyekachi Wambu was born in Nigeria in 1960. In 1970, after the Nigerian Civil War, he and his ...
"Black British Literature since Windrush"
BBC History, 3 March 2011
"Interview with Mike Phillips by Romanian writer George Arion"
November 2010, Profusion Publishers
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Mike
1941 births
Living people
Academics of the University of Winchester
Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London
Alumni of the University of Essex
Alumni of the University of London
BBC people
Black British writers
British broadcasters
English non-fiction writers
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Guyanese emigrants to England
Guyanese novelists
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
People from Georgetown, Guyana
People from Islington (district)
The Guardian journalists